History says sell stocks in May. Should you?

5:50 PM,
Apr. 30, 2013

Written by

USA TODAY

There's no shortage of statistical evidence that shows that selling stocks in May and staying out of the market for the ensuing six months is a winning investment strategy.

â? Since World War II, May-through-October is the worst rolling six-month period of performance for the Standard & Poor's 500 index, S&P Capital IQ says.

â? In the past 10-, 20- and 50-year periods, the S&P 500 has posted much bigger returns (more than 5 percentage points, on average) in the November-April period than the six-month span from May to October, says Bespoke Investment Group. ...